


Daybreak

by EonsofVictory



Series: Exploring Unknown Horizons [1]
Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horizon: Zero Dawn Fusion, Alternate Universe - No Quirks (My Hero Academia), Dadzawa, Gen, Horizon: Zero Dawn Spoilers, Inventor!Izuku, No prior knowledge of H:ZD required, Nora!Aizawa, Nora!Izuku, Protective Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Seeker!Aizawa, just in case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25120594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EonsofVictory/pseuds/EonsofVictory
Summary: Scavenger Izuku is perfectly content with his life.  He lives alone, with plenty of space to work on his inventions.  This all changes when a mysterious stranger stumbles upon him, and proceeds to shoot first, ask questions later.  Of course, the Stranger can't just leave Izuku alone after learning he's just a teen.  If Izuku had known the trouble that the Stranger would bring with him, Izuku would have let the man shoot him again.
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Midoriya Izuku
Series: Exploring Unknown Horizons [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1845460
Comments: 65
Kudos: 254





	1. The Scavenger and The Hunter

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t think you need to have played Horizon Zero Dawn to understand this. I’ve tried to explain everything in detail, but feel free to comment if you don’t understand something.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Horizon Zero Dawn or Boku no Hero Academia.

Izuku crouches in the tall undergrowth, his brown Oseram leathers and blue Carja silks blending into the grasses and making him invisible to all but the best hunters. Good thing it isn’t a hunter Izuku is hiding from.

He hears them long before he can see them, the telltale whirr of mechanical joints and the thud of feet belonging to bodies a lot heavier than any human. Izuku ducks closer to the ground, freeing his spear as a Watcher climbs the ridge. The bird-like machine stretched tall, it's long neck swivelling and it's single eye scanning the surroundings. After a moment, it lowers its head and neck, balanced out by it's long tail. It continues down the path, and behind it come two Shell-Walkers.

They’re massive machines, though definitely not the biggest out there. They have four sturdy legs, situated underneath a large metal cargo container. If you can get past their energy shields and under their massive swinging claw, the rewards inside are well worth the risk of injury. Two massive arms rest on either side of an asymmetrical face, a massive lighting-throwing claw and the shield generating arm. Behind the convoy comes a second Watcher.

Izuku waits for the last Watcher to pass by his hiding spot before striking. He lunges, swinging his spear at the joints of the Watcher’s thin legs to knock it down. A quick stab to the eye brings the machine down for the count. The Shell-Walkers turn, activating their shield generators and backing away from the threat as the first Watcher sounds an alarm.

Izuku smirks. There will be no help for this convoy—he’s been scouting this route for weeks, and there are no machine sites anywhere near, and the solo wanderers had been taken care of before the convoy even reached this part of their trail.

The young scavenger turns and runs, pursued by the Watcher. He needs to move fast, to stay out of range of the concussive blast that the Watcher can employ, but just slow enough that he keeps his prey’s attention. The Shell-Walkers won’t bother with following him; their directive is to defend their cargo, not attack perceived threats.

He slows down upon seeing the diamond carved into a tree, and when he hears the tell-tell whine of an energy blast charging up, ducks behind a log. The wood splinters against the blow, leaving a blackened crater surrounded by smoldering bark. The Watcher follows Izuku between two trees and Izuku slams the butt of his spear into the trigger mechanism of his hidden trap. A tripwire leaps from the ground, easily ensnaring the thin legs of the machine.

Izuku launches forward and jams the blade of his spear in between the armor of it's head and neck. Electricity arches up in a quick flash before the thing dies.

Izuku waits and listens, spear still buried in the machine’s carcass. Silence. Izuku stands at attention until the birds tentatively return to their melodies before moving again, assured that no machines had been attracted by the noise of the hunt.

Izuku grabs the end of his spear and begins to wiggle it back and forth, digging the spear in further until the head is freed. The young boy cheers quietly to himself and hefts the head into his hands. He searches it for impairment, and is pleased to find that it was relatively undamaged.

Izuku has found out that the more damaged a robot is, the harder it is to salvage any workable parts. Considering he’s too small to really take down the large machines, he usually has to make due with the scraps of others—and by then all of the good parts have been removed already.

He only caught this one himself because the eyes of the Watchers are their weak points. An arrow there will take one out immediately. But Izuku needs the head completely intact.

To tell the truth, Izuku isn’t all that strong, or very good with any weapon outside of a spear or slingshot. He never completed his training to become a Nora Brave—the Red Raids had put a stop to that. But he was smart, and a lot faster and agile than the metal beasts.

See, Izuku has a theory that the component that allowed a machine to recognize another machine was located within the head and eyes. Machines don’t fight each other, but will easily attack an animal if it got to close, or a human if one was stupid enough to be seen by the machines. They are able to recognize themselves as different from other living things.

Izuku has a theory that if he can isolate and power the component, the machines would perceive him as one of their own, allowing him to pass freely through the Sundom.

Izuku carefully hooks his spear onto his back, making sure not to damage the battery pack he is wearing. He takes out his knife and pries the armor off of the Walker’s head. He tilts it into the sun to get a better look.

_Snap!_

Izuku prays to the Sun, Mountain, Forge and any other god that will listen that he manages to hide his flinch. He can’t let whoever made that noise realize he heard them. He sets the head down to separate the armor and eye, and casually returns his knife to his belt and rocks onto his heels, the movement shuffling his cloak forward.

The Watcher eye isn’t Izuku’s only pet project. He is also in possession of a self-made Stalker Hide. Stalkers have this nasty (and _incredible_ , ohmygods) ability to turn invisible. Using a stealth generator on their flanks and specialized reflector plates and synthetic muscle, they could vanish into midair. They liked to leave glowing mines everywhere, and when some unlucky soul (Izuku) happened to trip one, would strike unseen and kill their target before they even knew they were being hunted. The most terrifying thing about Stalkers, though, is that they prefer to strike from a distance, using a long-range death-spitter that can kill an unarmored human with a single shot.

Izuku had tripped a mine before while searching for some medicinal herbs, when he had first settled down in The Jewel, the jungle that makes up the southern third of the Sundom. The Stalker had driven him up a tree, and kept him there for nearly 48 hours before a Carja patrol caught it's attention. The soldiers didn’t make it, but they put up a hell of a fight, and Izuku was able to take the machine down himself. To his delight, the Stealth Generator had been intact.

So, he stripped the machine, crafting armor for his shoulders and legs, and a cloak of the synthetic skin. Paired with the battery pack, Izuku had his own portable cloaking device.

As for the name, Izuku had been sleep deprived at the time. He wouldn’t dare risk a nap, due to the fact that Stalkers could climb, if given enough time. (He nearly had a heart attack when he stumbled upon one while it was “asleep”, hanging upside down and entirely still and silent, eyes completely dark.) And since hide meant both “to conceal from view” and “skin of an animal”… 

The black material closes around his form, waist high in the front and dropping to his knees in the back, covering what his armor didn’t.

He slams his palm against the button over his heart, vanishing from sight. He throws his hood up just as an arrow sails over his shoulder, and quickly scoops up his prize. Before the cloak can close, a second arrow hits him in the shoulder.

Izuku cries out in pain, staggering under the blow. He staggers to his feet and takes off. Behind him, someone calls out: “Wait!” Izuku ignores it. He might be young, but he knows better than to stop and chat with the _stranger who just shot him_.

Izuku manages to duck behind a tree and press his back against it, reminded of the rapidly warming battery pack as it digs into his skin. The boy grabs the arrow shaft and breaks it, tossing it to the side so his cloak can close properly and hide him. He holds his breath and waits.

Not even moments later, a tall man with wild black hair and a scruffy beard runs past. He pauses, turning around in a circle a few meters away, and Izuku gets a good look at him.

To his surprise, Izuku recognizes the markings on his face. They’re painted on with red clay instead of blue dyes, but it’s a Nora marking. A single arch, connecting his eyebrows, and a single stripe over his cheekbones, crossing over his nose. Izuku doesn’t recognize the family, but he had never left Mother’s Vigil or the surrounding land until the Red Raids, so the stranger could have been from the more central settlements.

Izuku resists the urge to touch his own kin-mark, a crescent moon over his left eye, made of the henna stains that the Carja use to decorate their own eyes with.

Honestly, without the Nora face paint, Izuku would have assumed he was some sort of Carja warrior—a Hunter, if the bow and spear had anything to say about it. He was dressed in their silks and armor, dyed a deep red and dark black, and wore a golden circlet around his head.

He tries not to gasp as the man turns toward him, a slight glimmer from a metal clip over his ear. He walks right toward Izuku, but stops short to pick up the arrow shaft. He examines it, and then continues forward.

Izuku waits until the stranger is long gone, and his heart has stopped pounding. Only then does Izuku slink back to his hidden home, to lick his wounds and examine his Watcher skull in peace.

O0O0O

Izuku has been wrong to think that The Red Nora would leave him alone after this. What sort of Hunter goes after humans? The Raptors of the Hunter’s Lodge strictly hunted machines. Izuku remembers, because it pissed The Mad Sun King off, that his elite hunters refused to participate in his raids and battles against the other clans.

Maybe Sun King Touya convinced them differently, after disposing of his father. He wouldn’t put it past the Carja to support another crazy warlord on their throne, especially if the rumors about the relationship between the Sun King and the current Sunhawk of the Lodge were true.

Whatever. Izuku has more important problems than the Endeavor bloodline.

The Red Nora. The Stranger that had shot him the other day. He is still in the area, and he is most definitely looking for Izuku.

That is a problem.

Izuku is checking his traps for rabbits when he first realizes he’s being watched. He immediately triggers his Stalker Hide and runs for cover. There’s no arrows this time, only the sound of footsteps in pursuit. Izuku has to run a lot further than usual before he can launch himself up a tree and hide amongst the thick foliage. He peers through the dark leaves as Red pauses and turns in a slow circle, searching for Izuku’s tracks.

Izuku is silent, watching with curiosity as the man slowly moves outward in a spiral, searching the underground. It takes a half-hour for the man to give up, and another half-hour for Izuku to be confident that he is alone in the forest.

Something is nagging him, though. How is Red able to follow him so easily?

This occurs several times over the next two weeks. Izuku lives alone, and his den had little means for fresh water or food, so he is often out once a day to gather supplies. Every time, _every single time_ , Red finds him.

At the waterfall? The Stranger is there.

The deer runs? The Stranger is there.

Izuku’s super secret vantage point, where he can see machines and humans from far above the treeline? _The Stranger is there_.

At least he has stopped chasing Izuku. Red announces his presence, now, calling out for him, asking to talk, to trade, or even just to give the younger Nora some resources. Man, this guy is not giving up--he must have a soft spot for kids, otherwise he would have left by now. Izuku’s seen his fair share of those parental types--usually Oseram, or the Banuk scouting parties that only dare come this south into the jungle to search for relics left by one of their highest religious leaders. The Carja were less accepting of a child approaching their party. (Children weren’t punished for crimes the way adults were, so they were often used to steal food, water and other resources for their families or whoever was giving them a cut of the prize. A lone child out in the wilderness, especially with the threats that machines posed, is to be viewed with suspicion, unless he offers tradable merchandise upfront.)

By now, Izuku is positive Red Nora has some sort of tech like his Stalker Hide. Instead of allowing him to vanish in thin air, though, Red’s tech is like a radar. Izuku thinks it must be stolen off of a Scrapper, because from what Izuku can tell, it won’t sense him if he’s staying still. Thank the gods for that, because if this man had up and killed a Thunderjaw for their more versatile, heat-seeking radar? Izuku would be in trouble, and not because of the implications that this man fought a Thunderjaw. _And won_. Izuku has yet to find where the man has hidden the radar. It must be a lot smaller than Izuku’s Stalker Hide.

Speaking of which, Izuku was really pushing his battery pack with his excursions. That is the major downside to Izuku’s Stalker Hide--he needs a lot of energy to power it, and can’t convert plants or animals into biofuel like the machines could. He took a sparker, wrapped it in an insulating hide, and fastened it into a makeshift backpack. The pack is heavy, and hampers his movements greatly. But it is enough to power his stealth suit, despite the dangers of having an almost-explosive device strapped onto his back. The sparker heats up too quickly, causing injury to both Izuku and the wiring of the Hide, so Izuku tries to limit its use to avoiding large machines, corrupted areas and thieves’ dens.

It's safe to say that using the Hide so often to avoid Red is putting strain on the battery pack. Izuku has a row of burns where the sparker short-circuited already.

Luckily, Izuku has finally isolated the Recognition Component from the Watcher eye!

It is a whole lot smaller than the Stalker hide, a small blue circle with silver and gold lines. Izuku protects it within the Watcher’s lens, and attaches it to a battery he removes from a stolen Stalker flare. He fits the eyepiece on the forehead of his helmet, and the battery on the inside, where it can’t be shot out. A piece of insulating machine hide is glued over it, to protect Izuku from any electrical shocks, and _ta-da!_ A machine-only club badge, all for Izuku.

He’s started to call it the Ghost, as it allows him to pass right through the machines without them ever acknowledging him.

He had been testing it for the fourth time, when Red finds him. There was a Strider site not too far from his camp. He hadn’t realized that Red had been tracking him, too elated with his success to notice his tail.

He has been pushing past the last of the undergrowth, right on the border of the fields that the Striders and Broadheads preferred, when a sudden shout of _“Look out!”_ made him freeze. He glanced back to see Red running straight for him, and in a moment of panic, shoved the rest of the way into the clearing.

He shrieks when a massive Sawtooth turns to look at him, but ducked under it's chin when the lights of its eyes stayed blue. He grins despite the fear, elation of the fact that he just avoided detection from the combat-oriented machine, and ran straight for the deer-like Striders. They were broader, and more steady on their feet than deer, without the antlers. They were also significantly larger, big enough for Izuku to slide on the closest back as Red bursts into the clearing.

The Sawtooth’s eyes turn red with a challenging roar, and all around him, Strider’s turn yellow in warning. As one, the herd turns and runs away from the threat their protector noticed. Izuku grips his Strider tight, turning to watch. He might not appreciate Red’s pursuit of him, but he doesn’t want the older Nora to die.

What he sees takes his breath away.

Izuku lunges forward, gripping the armor plates of the Strider’s head and hauling backwards. The Strider makes a noise of complaint, but slows to a stop, and Izuku stares as Red swings his spear with enough force to throw the Sawtooth to the ground. Before the beast can get up, Red turns and shoves the butt of his spear at the machine’s head. Blue wires emerge from around the machine’s head, encircling it's neck and peeking out from joints on it's legs.

The Sawtooth gets up, and does not attack. It stays still, docile, and even allows Red to pat at its snout. Izuku’s eyes go wide as Red vaults onto the beast’s back. He balances there, gripping blue wires in his hands and turning the Sawtooth toward Izuku and the Strider herd. But he doesn’t move. He stands there, as if trying to show Izuku something. Izuku glances down at the Strider, the one that allows him on his back but that he does not control, and wonders if Red thinks them equal.

Izuku looks back across the field, and kicks his Strider hard enough to urge it into action. It makes a whirr from within it's chest, and takes off, away from the Nora who can tame machines.

Red does not follow.


	2. Overriding the Base Programming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of a beautiful friendship.

Izuku desperately wants that spear. He wants it so much, that he has resorted to stalking Red around this corner of the Jewel. However, the Jewel’s thick jungle prevents Izuku from following Red along the ground from a distance. He would have to get closer if he wanted to see anything. However, that would leave Izuku within range of Red, and he was certain that Red could outrun him in a race. That will be Izuku’s Plan B. As for Plan A… 

_Oh, how the tides have turned_ , Izuku thinks to himself as he crouches in his vantage point, watching from a distance as Red approaches some Scrappers. The short, squat machines are using their spiral jaws to tear apart a Strider carcass Izuku had left as bait. He has a feeling that Red knows Izuku is watching him, but Izuku doesn’t really care at this point. He wants to see if Red will use his spear to tame the machines again. It might have been a fluke, or a one-off thing, like a bomb, to be used for emergency purposes only.

But if Red can do it again, then Izuku will get closer. If he can figure out how Red is doing this, then he can replicate it. Think of all the machines he could study if he could tame them! He might even be able to approach a Thunderjaw or- or a Stormbird! Or even one of the titanic Rockbreakers that live in the desert of the Northern Sundom.

But to Izuku’s disappointment, Red only uses his bow and spear to fight the Scrappers. He supposes their not worth wasting the time to tame, not when a single heavy blow can bring one of the scavengers down.

Izuku hums, and then begins his descent to the jungle below. Looks like he’s going to have to go about this Red-style, and follow the man. With his radar tech, there’s no way Red won’t know Izuku is there, but maybe he’ll be polite enough to pretend he doesn’t notice?

Izuku decides to follow Red in a more casual setting, at first. There’s no need to put himself in danger while Red is fighting machines. He would rather not get shot again, if he couldn’t help it. So, a safer setting, where Izuku could study the spear, while also not giving away that he’s watching the spear.

Red likes to fish. He prefers it, Izuku notices, rather than the deer that roam the woods. Now that Izuku thinks about it, Red will also hunt smaller catches, like the hares and squirrels. That makes sense--Red is a nomad, moving from place to place. He can’t burden himself with storing away food when he doesn’t have a home to store it in. Carrying around that much weight would be detrimental when running, and that much meat is a calling card to predators.

So, fish.

Red spends most of his mornings by a crystal clear river winding its way north. He stands still as a statue, with his spear lofted over his head, staring at the water. Izuku had noticed this routine of Red’s when he was still hoping that Plan A would work. But now with Plan B in effect, he knew exactly where to find Red to begin his own shadowing.

Izuku approaches the river from the north, until he reaches the sandy clearing that Red resides in. He settles behind some briars and watches as Red brings the spear down on several fish, stringing them up on wires and hanging them from a low branch before returning to the river.

Izuku takes the time to examine the spear. It looks like a traditional Nora weapon, with a wooden base and a fitted metal piece fastened around it, the far end sharpened to a point and maintained with the utmost dedication. Leather decorated the handle. There was a painted button where the leather ended on the shaft, joined by two dyed feathers. A smooth, black cylinder was tied to the very end with glowing blue wires.

Spears were important to the Nora. So important that even if Izuku _could_ take the spear, years of social etiquette would send him into an anxious fit if he even put a hand on it without asking and receiving Red’s permission to do so. They were the main weapon used by Braves. Not everyone could shoot an arrow, but a spear could be wielded by anyone with two hands. Each spear was uniquely crafted by its owner. You could tell who a spear belonged to just by looking at it. Decorations told people your triumphs, and, if Izuku was being honest, Red’s spear was pretty boring.

Izuku had lost his first spear during the Red Raids. He crafted his new one after he settled in the Jewel. The wood was redder than the trees back in the Nora homelands, the blade taken from the scraps of Oseram forge workers. Instead of trinkets given to him by family and friends, he used fastenings of Carja bronze to hold the snakeskin leather in place against the handle. His spear was a part of him, a deadly extension of his body.

He knew one man from his village, an aged Brave who had fought and survived many battles, with bristling pheasant feathers all over the end of the shaft and in front of the spear head. Even Izuku welded some of his mother’s jewelry to the shaft of his own spear. Compared to this, two feathers and a badge was pretty simple.

But the vessel on the end of the spear--that was different. It was much too sleek to have been crafted by Oseram, so it must be a rare machine part, or a relic from the Old World. Izuku found himself focusing on it as he followed Red back to his camp. He would need to see it in action, before determining whether or not he had the skills to craft something of a similar make. He probably didn’t have the skills to steal it, so observation will have to suffice.

“Do you want some?”

Izuku jumps, and the underbrush around him rattles with the movement. _Shit_. Red is watching him, or at least staring directly where Izuku had hidden himself. A fire has crackled to life in the center of Red’s campsite. One fish is staked over the fire, and Red is wrapping a few in thick banana leaves with herbs and spices to smoke over the fire for the rest of the day.

Izuku slowly creeps into view, giving up on hiding. Red tilts his head, and then gestures to one of the fish still on the string. Izuku stares at him, incredulous. What sort of person offers fish to a complete stranger?

As if sensing his dilemma, Red uses the arm of his bow to disturb some rocks and reveal a temporary storage, heavy enough to discourage small predators. He pulls out a burnt banana leaf. He unfolds it to reveal a cooked trout. Red stands up, and Izuku skitters away, but he doesn’t make a move to chase. Red gets close enough to put the leaf down on a nearby rock. He returns to his log and makes a show of tossing his spear just out of arm's reach. Izuku stares at the spear, and then at the man who willingly disarmed himself even though Izuku knew his knives and spear were visible under his cloak.

Izuku lets his gaze drop to the fish. He hasn’t had the time to eat today, beyond a few berries before the sun had completely risen into the sky. His schedule had been thrown by Red’s presence in the valley, and Izuku’s normal schedule had suffered for it. He ate when he was hungry, and went without food if he couldn’t catch or harvest a sufficient meal before the fear of capture sent him scurrying for his den. He’s been getting better, especially since Red stopped following him the moment he started following Red, but Izuku is still remembering to cover his body’s basic needs.

Izuku creeps out from the brush and approaches. He keeps constant eye contact with Red, but the man simply sits and waits. Izuku gets close enough to snatch the fish off of the rock, and then ducks back into the forest. While he’s pretty sure Red wouldn’t poison him, he wasn’t so keen on letting his guard down to eat around the man. He’ll have to find Red later, after he finishes his meal.

This cycle continues. Red will let Izuku know when he notices the teen, but doesn’t complain if Izuku follows. Izuku wonders if Red believes that if he allows Izuku to stalk him, to build trust in him, eventually he’ll convince Izuku to stay with him. Izuku wonders if Red will succeed in his attempt at feral-child-adoption; if eventually, when Red moves on from the Jewel, Izuku will travel at his side.

The thought scares him a bit. He’s built his life in the Jewel. But, the idea of traveling beyond his little corner of the jungle, exploring the world and learning about the people and machines across the Sundom? Of the Old World ruins that hold secrets to technology unheard of? That sounds like an adventure Izuku could only dream of.

So Izuku gives up hiding. He instead follows from a distance. He sees Red use the taming device once more during this time, against a lone Strider. It is the device strapped to the spear, as Izuku suspected. It glows blue upon its use, and then the machines under its control glow blue as well. When Red uses it, he does something odd with his hands, a twisting motion. A secondary trigger? Perhaps the movement signals to the machine that he is their master, and that they should listen to no one else.

Izuku wants that taming device, but just like Izuku wouldn’t let Red close enough to catch him, Red isn’t letting him close enough to get a proper look at the spear. It’s disappointing, but understandable.

Red has a camp set up to the south of Izuku’s own den, and he returns there at sundown like clockwork. He makes to catch Izuku to send the boy skittering far out of reach before stringing up wires with metal dangling from them, to alert him of approaching threats. Izuku examines them the first night, and rigs up his own set, to tuck around the entrance of his den. He doesn’t try to approach Red after he’s set up his tripwires, and instead races back to his own den.

Now that Red has satisfied himself with Izuku’s presence nearby, he has stopped trying to track him down at random intervals during the day. Instead, Red goes to the Southern Cliffs, and races against the Sun to find handholds against the red stone.

Izuku watches him from the bank of a stream for three days, toiling up the cliff side time and time again as he finds out that his path leads to deadend after deadend. Finally, before Red can do something stupid, like try to use a trip wire or ropecaster to climb up smooth rock, Izuku pipes up.

“You know, if you want to cross the cliffs so badly, you’d have more luck taming a Stormbird and flying over.”

Red nearly loses his grip in surprise, clutching close to the wall. He’s quiet for a moment, before giving up and making his way back down to the base of the cliffs.

“I can’t,” Red admits, dusting his hands off on his pants. Izuku squints. Red glares back. “Seriously. I can’t. I’m trying to climb the cliffs so I can unlock other Override options on the machines.”

Izuku frowns, and looks at the device on his spear. “It doesn’t control all the machines?” That sucks.

Red brings it forward, so Izuku can take a closer look. “This is an Override Module. I stole it from a Corrupter.” Izuku’s shoulders droop. He can’t fight a Corrupter. Those things are massive, built like fire-spitting scorpions, and make other machines go crazy. There goes his plans for getting his own Override Module. Red continues, “It’s incomplete. I’m looking for something called a Cauldron, so I can complete the device. _Then_ I can tame a Stormbird.”

Izuku hesitates. “Maybe I can help you find it?”

Red scowls, and stares at Izuku for a long time. “It would be a wall of metal, built into the mountain. There would be a symbol on it. Like this.”

He uses his spear to draw two designs in the sand. They looked like triangles, except they were missing the bottom line. The first had a second upside-down V in the middle. The other had a circle connected under the point of the triangle. Izuku reaches out with his hand and draws a third triangle, with an upside down triangle on the inside.

“I’ve seen that one before,” he admits. “But it’s not really a safe place to go.”

“That’s okay,” Red says. “I can handle myself.” He slides a russack forward and pulls out a wrinkled, folded map. He spreads it on the stone between them. Izuku peers down at a crude map of the Sundom. “Can you show me where?”

Here is Izuku’s dilema.

From where they currently were, it is really sparking easy to get to what Red refers to as a Cauldron. It is a solution to Izuku’s problems. Red would probably die, and Izuku wouldn’t have to worry about being hunted by other men. The current occupants of the Cauldron would be weakened, which means the Sundom could finally uproot them and leave roads safer than they had been for years. Those shitty Shadow Carja and their corrupted machines would stop harassing the land and people of The Jewel. Izuku would be leading the most peaceful life he’s had in three years.

But.

Izuku doesn’t quite want Red to die. Red is the only person Izuku’s met who is _just like him_. And Izuku doesn’t mean being from the Nora—he knows plenty of other Outcasts who have moved into the Jewel or into the cold north of the Sundom because it reminded them of the forests back home.

Red uses Old World technology. He _uses_ the Machines, and not just for metal scraps like the Oseram or for jewelry like the Carja or for body modification like the Banuk. He stole an Override Module to tame machines, and his Scrapper radar-tech to track his enemies and avoid ambush.

The only other people Izuku knew of who did that… weren’t exactly the type of people Izuku was looking to be friends with.

Plus, Red is _nice_ to Izuku. He’s kind, when he isn’t shooting Izuku. He gives Izuku fish and berries, and a cool bracelet a passing merchant had offered. The Oseram who crafted it used acid to burn a coiling rattlesnake into the surface. Izuku had an appreciation of snakes since he entered the Sundom, and was often hired by an old Medicine Woman, Chiyo, to capture snakes so she could make antivenom. But when he had seen the price, Izuku knew he didn’t have the shards or salvage parts for it. Red had bought it without a second glance and offered it to the teen silently. It was the first time Izuku had ever taken something directly from Red’s hands.

So, Izuku _could_ tell Red that it was scarily easy to get to this Cauldron from here--just follow the Southern Cliffs west and you literally can’t miss it. Or… “I don’t know where it is on the map,” Izuku says. He hopes Red can’t tell he’s lying. “And the trails aren’t easy to describe. But I can show you where it is!”

Red frowns and folds up his map. “I don’t know about that. Are you sure you can’t just give me directions?”

Izuku shakes his head. “No.”

Red deliberates internally, and Izuku picks at a thread on his shirt. After a few long moments, the older man finally gives in with a long sigh. “Fine. Okay. But when we get to the Cauldron, you can’t come inside, alright? It’s dangerous.”

_Oh, you have no idea_. “It's best to travel at night through the jungle,” Izuku says instead. “The machines glow at night, and they have a poor time seeing humans if we stay still.”

Red makes a noise of agreement. “Did you want to take a nap then, while we wait for the sun to fall?”

Izuku considers this, and shrugs. He follows Red back to his camp, and scales a tree while the Nora settles under his tarp. Izuku finds a sturdy branch and settles into a nook. He tips his helmet further down his face, to block out the sun. He waits for Red to go quiet and still before closing his eyes and letting himself doze in the warm afternoon heat.

He’s woken when Red pokes at his boots with the limb of his bow. The sun is just under the horizon, painting the sky in reds and purples, and casting the land into long shadows. When Izuku drops to the ground, he notices that Red has already dismantled his camp. Izuku flushes a bit, and wonders how he managed to sleep through all the motion. Red clears his throat, and when Izuku turns his attention to the older man, he gestures for Izuku to lead the way.

The walk begins quiet, but as the sky finally fades to black, Izuku gets tired of listening to the night life. “So,” he begins, “I have a question for you. Why have you been trying to chase me for weeks?”

Red winces. “I admit, trying to chase you down was… very illogical in hindsight. I know it's not an excuse, but I only wanted to make sure you were alright after I shot you.” Red pulls a branch to the side so the duo could pass through the thicket. “I also wanted to make sure you were safe out here. It’s dangerous enough for an adult to be living alone during these times, let alone a child.”

“I’m not a child! I’m fifteen,” Izuku states.

Red pulls a face. “Still. I apologize for shooting you.”

“Oh. Um.” An apology. That’s new. But, Izuku supposes, he usually chases off or avoids those who have shot him before. “You’re forgiven. No harm done, anyway.” Izuku adjusts his cloak and tugs the neck of his shirt down. There’s barely a scab left. “Carja silks are so well crafted that the arrow barely broke skin. Messed up my shirt more than my shoulder.” Izuku stumbles over a bramble. “But I have to ask, why’d you shoot me anyway?”

Red is quiet for a moment, before mumbling, “I thought you were a machine.”

Izuku can’t help it. He snorts, and then covers his mouth with his hands to muffle his giggles. “What?”

“You were wearing a machine hide. You’re wearing it right now,” he gestured with his hands at Izuku’s cloak and armor. “It throws off my Focus. And your helmet looks like a metal animal skull, like a lot of the newer machines that have been springing up.” Izuku takes his helmet off to look, and, yeah, it does kind of look like a cross between a Ravager and Sawtooth. It had been based off of a cougar, but there weren’t any of the cats for reference outside of the Sacred Lands. “But when I heard you cry out, I realized that you were human. And then, of course, I went the wrong way about apologizing.”

“No kidding.”

O0O0O

“You mentioned something called a Focus,” Izuku wonders as they settle down to eat real quick. Red had some flatbread that he was willing to share, and Izuku offered some honeycomb in return. “Is that what you call your radar tech?”

Red looks up from his food, brows furrowed. “What makes you think I have radar tech?”

Izuku pops a bit of bread in his mouth. “It’s how you kept finding me, isn’t it? I noticed, you could follow me when I was moving around, but when I stopped, you couldn’t pin me down. You always seemed to be able to find me when I left my home, so I figured it had to be movement based, and it couldn’t see through stone. It sounds like you stole the radar off of a Scrapper.”

Red paused for a moment, taking this in. “It’s not a radar.” He pulls his hair aside and reveals a small triangle of metal. When he taps it, a line down the center lights up blue. He taps it again to shut it off. “This is called a Focus. It’s Old World tech, like the machines. It allows me to identify machines and locate their weaknesses. I can also see humans with it, even through solid objects. I can interact with Old World facilities, if they still have power. I haven't quite figured out how it all works yet, but it's really helpful.”

Izuku knows there’s a manic grin on his face. “That’s so cool. Does it work anything like my Ghost tech? It makes the machines recognize me as one of their own.”

Izuku pulls his helmet off to show Red the lens welded to the forehead of his helmet. Red straightens immediately. “You-- you’re--” he shakes his head. “No, it doesn’t work like that. You’re Nora?”

Izuku pauses, settling his helmet on his lap. He reaches up to his tattoo and nods. “Like you, right?”

Red stares at the crescent moon, but nods. “I’ve never met another Nora outside of the Sacred Lands.”

“Trust me, we’re out here.” Izuku plays with the teeth of his helm for a moment, before continuing. “My mother and I were from Mother’s Vigil. We were taken from our home during the Red Raids, three years ago. The Mad Sun King, Enji, planned on sacrificing us to his Sun God. But Sun King Touya moved against his father, and killed him in a coup against the city. Me and the rest of the prisoners were free to go.”

“But you had left the Sacred Lands,” Red pieces together. “And were forbidden from returning. No Nora would talk to you, and the Matriarchs cast you out as Outcasts.”

“Yeah. And the other Nora were very strict about abiding by their laws. They refuse to talk to me at all, and glare if I try to start a conversation. Sometimes they leave me food, though, if they notice I’m in the area.”

“What about your mother? Surely, she wouldn’t--”

Izuku shook his head. “No, she…” He scrubs quickly at the traitorous tears that spring to his eyes. “She was one of the first to be sacrificed in the Sun Ring when we arrived at the Meridian. And my father had already found himself a new wife, and plead with the Matriarchs that he be allowed to stay with her rather than follow me into exile.”

“You’re dad sounds like a dick.”

Izuku laughs wetly, before getting to his feet. “Yeah, he is. Come on, then. We still have a few more hours of travel before we reach your Cauldron.”

O0O0O

“You know, I don’t think I ever introduced myself. My name is Shouta. I’m a Nora Seeker.”

“I’m Izuku. I, uh, used to be a Nora Brave-in-training. I guess I’m just Izuku, now.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Izuku.”


	3. A Quick Detour Before Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku reveals that he wasn't bringing Shouta to the Cauldron. The duo make a pit stop at a prison before continuing to the Cauldron. On the way, Izuku teaches Shouta about politics.

“Here we are!” Izuku says, throwing his arms forward.

Built into the Southern Cliffs is a veritable stone fortress, thrown into sharp relief by the rising sun. There are stone stairs leading up to it, built into terraces carved into the land to flatten out the earth for some meager farming for the residents inside. It lacks the grace of most Carja settlements, but that’s kind of the point.

Shouta squints at the fortress, and sends Izuku a doubtful look. “This is the Cauldron?”

Izuku winces. “Actually, this is Sunstone Rock. Your Cauldron is about three miles that way,” Izuku points back down the Southern Cliffs, in the direction from whence they came. Shouta levels him with a flat look. “Hey! It’s not safe to go near that place at night. If we accidentally stumbled too close to the fort, we could be killed.” Izuku starts to make his way up the steps to the fortress.

“I told you I could handle it. My Focus would be able to detect any machines before we got too close,” Shouta protests, following at a clip behind Izuku. With his longer legs, he easily catches up to Izuku. The guards at the lookout tower glare down at them, even as Izuku waves cheerfully up at them.

“It’s not about machines,” Izuku corrects. “The Shadow Carja extremists have been holding the Cauldron for nearly eight moons. No one goes near that place, unless they have a death wish. It’s better to stop here for the morning. Once we eat, I can take you to the Cauldron, and you can decide whether or not to risk your life after you’ve seen it.”

Thankfully, one of the guards at the doors recognizes Izuku. Kirishima lifts his helmet off and waves, smiling brilliantly. “Hi Izuku!” Izuku grins and runs up to greet him. Kirishima was a new recruit, only eighteen, and probably the only friend Izuku has that's his age. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Hi, Eijirou! It’s good to see you too. I won’t be staying long,” Izuku apologizes. “We’re just here to rest before we move on.”

“Aw, that sucks. I’m still on duty, too,” Kirishima pouts, and his partner clears their throat pointedly. “We’ll have to meet some other time. And you’ll have to introduce me to your dad properly!” He puts his helmet back on and opens the doors.

Izuku flushes and begins to stammer, waving his hands in denial. Shouta cuts him off. “Of course. Thank you for your hospitality.”

Izuku tugs at Shouta’s sleeve. “Why’d you tell him that?”

“It’s quicker to let him believe what he wants than to explain the truth. Besides, how suspicious do you think those guards will be when they learn a fifteen-year-old is traveling with a thirty-year-old stranger?”

Well, when he puts it like that, Shouta has a point.

Izuku leads Shouta into the fortress a small ways, before turning into a massive room with a roaring hearth in the center. There’s two merchants in the far corner, by the empty bar. “This is the traveler’s center,” Izuku introduces. “People can rest here for free.”

Shouta looked back down the hall. “Can we not go anywhere else?”

“I wouldn’t.” Izuku pulls him to the corner closest to the door, across from the merchants. There’s a trio of tables there. “Sunstone Rock is a prison. The rest of the base is the guard’s quarters. Even further are the cells. It’s not exactly a welcoming place for strangers.”

“A prison?” Shouta frowns. “I wasn’t aware there was a prison outside of The Meridian.”

“Sunstone Rock was formed at the beginning of the Derangement,” Izuku explains. “Mad King Enji, in a moment of stunning clarity, realized that with machines suddenly becoming hostile, and more dangerous machines arriving in the Sundom, that he probably shouldn’t keep his kingdom’s most terrible prisoners in the capital.” Izuku gestures around at the building. “So he had Sunstone Rock built. The worst prisoners are sent here. Serial murderers, traitors, rapists, assassins--and since Touya took the throne, some of Enji’s old generals ended up here for war crimes.”

Shouta hums in interest.

The two split food again, and spent the heat of the afternoon napping on the floor of the traveler’s center. When the sun begins to sink, Izuku wakes Shouta up. “Come on. I want to get to the Cauldron while there’s still light.”

Shouta rolls to his feet, immediately alert. “Lead the way.”

Izuku takes them down a worn path, this time. The safety of the cliffs around the Cauldron used to be a hotspot for merchants to mine precious jewels that Carja nobility would pay handsomely for. Even with the danger of the Shadow Carja, the paths leading toward the Cauldron were still well-trodden, which tells Izuku all he needs to know about the desperation of merchants and the wealth of the nobles of Meridian.

“You mentioned earlier that there was a hostile tribe inhabiting the Cauldron,” Shouta says. Izuku glances back at his companion. Shouta is staring off into the trees, his Focus glowing slightly in the low light.

“The Shadow Carja. They’re an extremist group of nobles, generals and soldiers who were loyal to the Mad Sun King. When Touya killed his father and took the throne, there was a mass exodus of Enji’s loyalists from the cities. They’ve centered themselves in Sunfall, to the north. But there are a few strongholds that they’ve fought to hold across the Sundom. Your Cauldron is the most recently secured fort that I’m aware of.”

Shouta is practically walking backward by now. He must see something Izuku can’t, and is keeping an eye on it for them. “Was there any Shadow Carja at Sunstone Rock? We could have asked them for information.”

Izuku shakes his head, even though Shouta isn’t looking. “No. Any Shadow Carja captured by the Crown would be executed immediately. They’re too much of a threat to the throne to keep alive.”

“How so?” The danger seems to have passed, as Shouta is facing forward again.

“Well, the Carja won’t tell you this, but I’ve heard from some Oseram that the Shadow Carja also go by the name ‘the Eclipse’.” There is no rising comprehension on Shouta’s face at the treasonous title. Izuku realizes that Shouta is so new to the Sundom that he might not know of the intricacies of Carja politics. Izuku had some firsthand experience, after his time at the Sun Ring. “Look, the Carja won’t say so themselves, but they are deeply religious people. They’ll tell you differently, but they’ve come to believe certain myths about their Sun to be stone-carved facts.

“The Endeavor Line alone can interpret the will of the sun. When the first Sun King, Araman, led a pilgrimage to the Meridian, it was believed he was the Sun’s descendent. Now, it is known that the King and Sun are one and the same, born of each other when the human-half of the god takes the throne. This myth originates from the death of Sun King Araman. When he died, the sun went black. It was as if night had come in the middle of the day. By the time the Sun Priests were able to crown and cuff their new king, the sun finally returned.

“It came to be that the sun died with the king, and that the newest king needed to be crowned as soon as possible to bring life to the new Sun, and then cuffed in order to properly contain the Sun in Their human twin. So far, every Sun King since Araman has died when the sun wasn’t visible. Or, at least, the people learned that their Sun King died when there was no sun. I wouldn’t put it past the Sun Priests to lie and protect the myth of the Crown.

“The significance of the Shadow Carja referring to themselves as the Eclipse, is that their very name threatens Sun King Touya’s life. It’s a sign to anyone who will listen that they want to kill King Touya and his Sun.”

Shouta hums in interest. “What’s the point of killing Touya? Are they trying to sow unrest when the sun continues to shine even as Touya remains dead?”

Izuku shoots him a look. “Touya isn’t Enji’s only child.”

Shouta looks shocked. “What?”

“He had two kids with concubines, and then another son to the Queen-Mother Rei: Crown Prince Shouto. Shouto and Rei are currently being protected at Sunfall. When Touya dies, Shouto is the next in line, as the last true-born son of the Endeavor Line.”

“Do the Eclipse plan to instill Shouto as a puppet ruler?”

“Maybe? Shouto is much too old for them to be playing shadow-ruler with. I only saw him once, but I think he’s around my age. If they really wanted a puppet, they could always claim Rei was pregnant during the coup, and raise one of their own kids to be the next Sun King, under a reagent.”

“I thought you said Shouto was next in line. If he’s aligned with the Shadow Carja, why not put him on the throne?”

“Usually, the youngest true-born son of the current king is crowned. The people believe that a younger king will live longer, and have a stronger sun. Shouto should have become the next Sun King, but he wasn’t of age when Enji was killed. He still isn’t of age. The Shadow Carja removed him from the city because even if he had been crowned, Touya would have been his reagent by birthright, and not one of the Eclipse nobles. Touya was the last true-blooded son of the Endeavor Line still in the city, and was crowned by the remaining Sun Priests. This makes his claim to the throne superior, even when Shouto finally turns eighteen.”

Izuku catches the gleam of bronze out of the corner of his eye and leads Shouta off of the path. He crouches and leads the way through the tall grasses until the source is visible--a Carja javelin, standing straight up in the ground. There is a skull staked through the top, and several headless helmets surround the base. It's a clear warning sign-- _if we can kill your protectors, what's stopping us from killing you?_

“I’ve gone off topic,” Izuku decides. “The important thing you need to know is that the Shadow Carja use Old World tech and working machine weaponry. Death-spitters can kill a person with a single bullet, and they spit several rounds at a time, like a Ravager. Some wield fire-spitters, and can ignite ground cover. Others can unleash terrible stunning attacks using sparkers and battery packs. They are not to be underestimated.”

Shouta nods seriously.

They stay off the beaten path, passing one more warning (a skeleton strung up in the trees, a necklace shaped like the sun around its neck), before finally reaching the high stone cliffs and tall wooden walls. With the setting sun, Izuku can see Shadow Carja extremists scurrying about their camp through the open gates, torches illuminating them in the darkness. The way the camp is situated, he can only see their living areas, rows of tents and a flimsy, wall-less building for a canteen and galley. Two guards stood at attention in the open gates of the outpost, one holding a fire-spitter, and the other a bow. Izuku looked at Shouta, gauging his reaction to the numbers and resources visible from their hiding spot.

“Welcome to the Cauldron.”

O0O0O 

Shouta is scowling as he triggers the Focus. “I’m counting twenty Eclipse, but almost half of them are asleep in the barracks.” He blinks, and then turns to Izuku. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

That sounds like a dismissal. Izuku narrows his eyes at that. “I’m going with you,” he declares.

Shouta rounds on him, looming, his Focus glowing red like an angry machine. “ _No_ , you’re not. Those men are dangerous.”

Izuku scowls. “You don’t think I know that? There’s a reason I took you on a roundabout way here, and it wasn’t to give you a tour of a prison!”

“ _They’ve killed children!_ ” Shouta snarls, and Izuku can tell that he’s trying very hard not to shout and risk being noticed by the guards. “I recognize them--they attacked my people, slaughtered children and brought destruction to my home. I will not put another person--another _child_ at risk!”

And, _oh_. Izuku hadn’t known that this fight was personal. He hadn’t heard about the Eclipse in the Sacred Lands. All his knowledge about Carja visits to his homeland were from peace convoys, Sun King Touya hoping to secure an alliance after the horrors his father committed. It makes sense--Shouta is a Seeker. They are the _only_ Nora tribe members that can leave the Sacred Lands without being exiled by the High Matriarchs. Even then, the only Seeker Izuku had known used her status to enter Devil’s Thirst or Devil’s Grief, the ruins of an Old World settlement forbidden from the populace on threat of severe punishment, including being labeled as a permanent Outcast, like Izuku, and even then it was only to rescue injured tribesmen and chase down thieves. For Shouta to have willingly left the Sacred Lands and travel so far west--there must be a personal reason.

Like hunting down child murderers.

But Izuku hasn’t survived on his own for so long by rolling over as soon as someone raises their voice. (And he cares about this man who gives him fish and berries, who answers his questions about his Old World tech, who listens to him ramble about Carja politics when they should be discussing ways to Not Die.) So he squares his shoulders and puts his foot down. “I am not going to let you walk into that fortress alone. I am coming with you, and you can’t stop me.”

Shouta’s glare intensifies. “I could easily leave you behind. I doubt you could keep up with me while sneaking through the camp.”

“Out of the two of us, who can turn invisible, here?” Izuku counters.

Shouta lets a long breath through his nose, shoulders tense, like he was struggling not to shake some sense into Izuku. One of the Sunfall Wardens, Tsuchikawa Ryuuko, gets that look wherever he and Eijirou compare stories of stupid stunts they’ve pulled since they last saw each other. “I could tie you up out here. Then what?”

Izuku leaned back in mock distress. “And leave me _alone_ in enemy territory, unable to defend myself?”

Shouta closes his eyes, brings his hands up with the fingers curled to claws, as if to go through with his sense-shaking desire, before whirling around and pacing in tight circles for half a minute. He turns, points at Izuku and opens his mouth as if to speak before turning and resuming his pacing for another minute.

Izuku glances back at the camp, which is starting to quiet down as the night shift takes over and the workers all go to sleep. The sun dips below the horizon, leaving the camp illuminated by torches.

“Fine.” Izuku jumps at Shouta’s voice. He looks pained to be saying this. “You can join me. But you will be invisible the whole time, and _silently_ follow me. If things go sideways, you will run back to Sunstone Rock and wait for me there, no questions asked.”

Izuku nods enthusiastically. That sounds reasonable. Shouta returns to cataloging the entrance to the fortress. He crouches and gets as close to the treeline as he dares. Izuku, fighting to stop himself from wiggling in excitement, ducks down as well, pressing against Shouta’s side to analyze what little of the outpost he can see, focusing on hiding spots and the patrolmen he can see silhouetted against the torches.

“Here’s what we’ll do,” Shouta says finally. “None of the patrol routes get close to the two men guarding the door. They circle points around the stone wall where it's easy to get over from the outside, rather than near the entrance. If we can take out the two men guarding the doors, we should be able to sneak through the camp without alerting anyone we were there. One guard for each of us.”

Izuku hesitates before asking for clarification. “By ‘take out’, do you mean…”

Shouta jerks, as if remembering how old Izuku is. “All you need to do is make sure your guard doesn’t call out until I can help you.”

“No, that’s okay. I can handle it. The machines and animals aren’t the only dangers out here,” Izuku assures, but Shouta doesn’t look very assured.

He turns back to the gates. He points to a thicket to the left of the gate. “We’ll strike from there. You take the closer man.”

Izuku nods and draws his knives. Shouta unstraps his spear and together they vanish into the forest.

It’s been a while since Izuku’s needed to use lethal force against another human being. It isn’t any easier than it was last time. At least he doesn’t vomit this time. He helps Shouta drag the bodies into the shadows. Shouta indicates he should turn on his Stalker Hide, and Izuku presses the button.

He vanishes from sight, and Shouta leads the way into the fort. The older man sticks to the shadows, hiding behind the wooden structures erected all over the camp and ducking into the undergrowth. Izuku tries to follow, but Shouta is indeed faster than him, and not all of his hiding spots can fit Izuku alongside. Despite Shouta’s speed, he was still slow-going through the camp, determined to make it to a cave opening high on the cliffs without being spotted by watchmen. Normally, Izuku would have no problem with taking this slow. But he had a rapidly heating battery pack against his skin, and he would rather not learn what will last longer--his pain tolerance of the Hide’s wiring.

So Izuku decides to head straight up the scaffolds built into the cliff wall, avoiding the single patrol and perching on a rock set just outside the flimsy wooden door over the cave. He adjusts the pack so it's no longer pressed against his skin and settles to wait for Shouta. He waits until a black shadow emerges over the edge of the scaffold, avoiding the sight of the Eclipse soldier. Shouta turns back down, as if to help someone who isn’t there, Izuku clears his throat. Shouta whirls around, the red of his Focus striking a line through the air before focusing into a single point by his ear. Shouta’s eyes search the wall, and Izuku lifts his helmet and hood enough for the illusion to shatter and reveal patches of his face.

Shouta’s shoulders slump in relief, reaching out to grab Izuku’s cloak. Izuku allows it, if only so Shouta won’t accidentally hit him while he was still invisible. He then turns to the hidden door. “My Focus is finally picking up a signal from the Cauldron’s core. It’s like it's broken--or sick.”

Izuku checks behind them for the patrolman and turns off his cloak. “Who knows what those Shadow Carja have been doing to the Cauldron.”

Shouta grunts, and slides the door open. He and Izuku duck inside, and Shouta closes the door behind them. The walls are stone, and the flooring is wooden. The halls are poorly lit with torches bolted into the rock. Shouta has them wait for a bit while he uses his Focus to search the tunnels ahead of them. “We’re in the clear,” he murmurs. “But keep your spear ready, just in case.”

Izuku readies his weapons, and the two descend into the Cauldron.


	4. The Belly of the Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some background about our Seeker, and the duo finally enter the Cauldron, only to find more trouble than they expected.

Shouta has always been different from his peers. Most of the village blamed it over an accident in his youth, where he fell into some ruins while out with his friend, Oboro. He had stumbled across an underground settlement, abandoned through the death of those who lived there. The crevice was too tall and too smooth for him to climb back up, so the only way out was through.

It was there Shouta found his Focus.

A man of living light appeared, when the stone caves turned to metal and rotting plastic. He welcomed Shouta to the Zabrak Site, and told him to replace his Focus with the Project Zero Dawn standard issued Focus, which will provide him clearance to the Site’s computers and electric locks. Shouta isn’t sure what either of those are, but he inspects the small triangles of metal with interest.

When the light-man introduced the Focus, he gestured to a triangle of metal over his ear, against his temple. Shouta saw no reason to ignore them, so he tried one on.

This simple action changed his world.

The Focus was an ingenious piece of tech. It connected with the Old World technology that still retained power. From the bones in the Zabrak Site, Shouta heard messages to their family, to their friends, and learned that they had been trapped down there before they had died.

Later, up on the surface, Shouta learned of a greater use of the Focus. It allowed him to translate words in languages he couldn’t read normally, allowed him to mark points on a map without actually marking the paper, to follow barely-there tracks of machines, animals and humans alike.

It allowed him to track humans and animals through solid objects, as well as machines. If he got close enough, he could point out the weaknesses in the armor of the machines and how to exploit them.

When he turned eight, and the older Braves began to teach him and his peers how to hunt with a bow, Shouta was the only student who came back with a successful catch every time. When the Derangement began two years later, it made him the best machine-hunter of the to-be-Braves.

When he was ten, he was able to see approaching Carja Soldiers and warned his village. It was only after the first three Raids did the Matriarch of his village start to believe his early warnings. Out of all the villages of the Sacred Lands, his took the least amount of damage from the Red Raids.

When he turned sixteen, it allowed him to watch as his best friend bled to death just inside Devil’s Thirst, while Braves had to pin Shouta down to prevent him from entering the Forbidden City to save his friend. By the time the Seeker arrived, it was too late. Oboro was retrieved from the Forbidden City for his burial.

Shouta had thrown himself into his training, becoming better than his peers. He came first in the Proving, the first of his peers to be a true Brave, and for his boon he asked the High Matriarchs to give him a Seeker’s badge, so he could save others like he couldn’t save Oboro.

As a Seeker, Shouta had different responsibilities from his other peers. In times of peace, a Seeker acted as a diplomate, leaving the Sacred Lands to facilitate peace treaties and trade agreements with the other tribes.

Thanks to Sun King Enji, this was not a time of peace.

Shouta’s roles as a Seeker were to uproot enemies and combatants from places forbidden for the Nora to enter on threat of temporary exile. He often had to fight Carja Soldiers alone and outnumbered before being able to successfully drive them out of the forbidden lands and into the waiting spears of his fellow Braves. He had the scars to show from it, as well. Sometimes, he would be required to bring back Outcasts to Mother’s Heart, so they could be absolved of their sins by the High Matriarchs. Other times, he would be forced to rescue Nora from the forbidden lands, only to drive them out again as Outcast to the tribe.

It was not a glamorous job. At least no one died from easily salvageable wounds on his watch--even if they were exiled soon after, he could prevent a lonely death in the forbidden lands.

When Enji was overthrown, and Sun King Touya took the throne, most of Shouta’s responsibilities vanished. Touya put an end to the Red Raids, and attempted to return those taken in the Raids. But Nora tradition upheld that, without a Seeker’s Badge, those who had been abducted could not return to the Sacred Lands on pain of death. Shouta thought it was cruel, but even a Seeker cannot change the minds of the High Matriarchs.

(He knew some of the Matriarch’s watched him with suspicion--they always had, he had been _different_ , and that made him a liability--especially when he could fight machines no Nora had ever seen before and take them down with minimal injury. But he was the great-grandson of one of the High Matriarchs, and to push suspicion on him for his knowledge of the Red Raids and the new machines, would be to push suspicion on his bloodline, which had been blessed by the All-Mother and given his great-grandmother both long life and dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, boosting her into one of the highest positions in the tribe. He suspected her influence was why he retained his Seeker’s Badge, even though most of the other Seekers scattered throughout the Sacred Lands had been relieved of their badges and returned to being normal Braves.)

Without the Red Raids, Shouta quickly found that he could begin to enjoy his patrols and hunts and scavenging. He picked up teaching quickly, showing both Braves and to-be-Braves alike how to take down machines more efficiently. He was proud of those he taught, and always made his way to Mother’s Heart during the Autumn Equinox to watch his students compete in the Proving to become Braves themselves.

It was during the third Proving after the end of the Red Raids did a disaster strike. He had been distracted. Maybe it was the Peace Convoy, a Sun Priest and two Oseram sent by Sun King Touya to facilitate peace talks and trade agreements. Maybe it was Emi once again trying to convince Shouta to allow her to court him. Maybe it was the Oseram delegate who also wore a Focus, something Shouta had never seen in his thirty years of life. Maybe it was the handsome Oseram Vanguard with the long blonde hair and pretty green eyes. Who knows.

Shouta only remembers watching the All-Mother Mountain, at the ridge where the competitors would present their trophies to the proctor and finally join the ranks of Braves, when an explosion rocked the earth and scorched the air. He remembers the screams, the bawling families. He remembers following a group of Braves up the mountain only to find the proctor and all dozen to-be-Braves slaughtered with weaponry he had never seen before.

It took a week for Shouta to finally admit to himself that this was not his fault. He couldn’t have stopped it. The killers would have struck anyway, in a hope to start a war between the Nora and the Carja. They hoped to tilt the civil war within the Sundom to the favor of the Shadow Carja. Shouta couldn’t have stopped them. But he could follow them and hunt them down.

Shouta gave the killers a bit of credit--they certainly knew that the Nora wouldn’t be able to follow them into the forbidden ruins of Devil’s Grief. But Shouta was different. He could lead a battalion of Braves into the forbidden lands and cut down the killers where they stood.

He was different. When the killers returned to Mother’s Heart with a massive metal scorpion that corrupted a herd of Striders, he alone could strike the weak points of the Corruptor’s armor, and later salvage the Override Module for himself.

He was different. He could ride a Strider up to Dawn’s Sentinel and cross the border between the Sacred Lands and the Sundom without penalty.

He is different. Izuku is different too.

Shouta has known ever since he accidentally shot the kid (and won’t _that_ weigh heavy on his shoulders for a good while) and the kid up and vanished from sight. Then there’s the incident with the Sawtooth, where the great metal saber-cat didn’t even flinch when Izuku ran past. The Stalker Hide and Ghost.

Shouta had seen people use machine parts to craft tools. It was mostly Oseram, melting down and reshaping the metal into weapons, armor, or household objects. Some Carja crafters turned scraps into jewelry to sell in their bazaars. Izuku kept the original purpose of the machine components, like how the cultists wielded the death-spitters torn off the shoulder mounts of the hound-like Ravagers.

It was incredible. The kid really was something else.

Shouta still didn’t like allowing him into the Cauldron. He had been in two before, Sites Sigma and Rho. Sigma was killer. Machines guarded the core, making it dangerous to traverse. Shear drops, followed by vigorous climbing made the route draining to humans. Platforms were spaced too far for him to cross, and Shouta had been required to find an Override Access Panel, or leap onto cargo boxes flying through the use of magnets (the lodestone he kept around his neck nearly strangled him while he held onto the box for dear life). And even when he made it to the core and shut it down, it had released an unfinished machine, unstable on his feet with extremely volatile attacks. The Rho site was even worse, with stronger machines, and god-awful rotating wheels.

The Cauldrons are dangerous. But he couldn’t ditch the kid and didn’t dare tie him up in enemy territory, so Shouta had to turn to the lesser of two evils. At least this way he can keep an eye on his little Outcast and make sure he won’t be hurt.

This Cauldron, Site Xi, is quieter than the other two sites. Shouta hadn’t been kidding when he described it as sick. He might have blamed the actions of the Shadow Carja, if the stone, plantlife and squeak of bats hadn’t suggested that this Cauldron had been broken for a long time.

The cave was mostly stone, and Shouta wondered if this was an actual entrance to Site Xi or a natural cavern that eroded through the metal of the Cauldron and allowed the Eclipse entrance into the dungeon. It was easy to transverse--the cultists had installed wooden walkways, ladders and ramps as well as scaffolds to scale the higher walls. Torches lit the way into the tunnel, but there were no Eclipse in sight--probably all asleep or guarding the camp. Izuku kept close anyway, a second shadow in the torchlight.

Eventually, the stone turns to metal, and soon after the two enter a massive chamber. Moonlight filters through a skylight in the ceiling, illuminating the carcass of a Tallneck. Izuku sucks in a breath beside him, pressing close. “What could kill something like that?” he whispers in fear. Shouta couldn’t blame the kid.

Tallnecks are the biggest machine ever seen by any living being of the Sundom and Sacred Lands. They are titanic, and that isn’t an exaggeration. Shouta is barely taller than their feet. They have four long legs, bracing a heavily-armored body. A well-supported neck stretches tall, lifting the flat, circular head well over the tallest of trees. When he first saw a Tallneck within Devil’s Thirst, he had thought it was an earthquake. They were awe-inspiring machines, and thankfully completely harmless. Shouta could use his Override Module to build maps of the land, including the movements and sites of machines and notable human settlements. In fact, that was one of the reasons Shouta had wandered into Izuku’s stretch of the jungle. The Tallneck belonging to the Spearshafts had a glitch surrounding the location of Site Xi. It sent Shouta on a wild goose chase several miles to the east of the Cauldron.

Shouta has never been more grateful for a detour.

Izuku tugs on his sleeve and points further into the cavern. “There’s another one.”

It takes Shouta a while, but he makes out a second Tallneck carcass, against the far wall of the cavern. He examines the caverns walls in more detail, and finds a large door to his left, closed to entry. “I don’t think they were finished before the Cauldron died.”

Izuku tugs harder. “Machines are _made_ here?”

Shouta is about to answer when he sees movement in the foliage below. He grabs Izuku and tucks the kid close, ducking behind a crate. He peers around the side, and Izuku does the same on the other side. Activating his Focus, he can see Eclipse soldiers patrolling the indoor forest below. He hisses behind his teeth. _Wonderful._

He leans back and takes stock of his weaponry. His bow paired with several different arrows, a tripcaster with some blast and shock wires, and his spear. He turned to Izuku. “We’ll have to fight our way through. Even with the plants, the moonlight and the reflection against the metal is negating any cover. Do you only have your spear?”

Izuku opens his cloak and unlatches an arm-mounted rattler, strapping it to his left forearm. Shouta raised his brow. Rattlers, despite being able to shoot multiple rounds of metal quills, had shit accuracy, and were better for striking down multiple opponents. Most Nora would have chosen a bow for a ranged weapon, but, given that Izuku never completed his to-be-Brave training, he might not have the necessary skills to wield a bow. “I have a limited amount of ammo with this,” he admits. “And I can use a sling--I have some bombs in my bag. My knife. My spear.”

Shouta nods. “These aren’t good odds,” he informs the kid. “At every opportunity, try to keep something solid between you and their weapons. Use the rattler to hit the far targets and the bombs if they try to get close. Please don’t shoot me.”

“Don’t worry, I might be a shit shot, but I can at least tell friend from foe.” Izuku grins cheekily, and Shouta fights the urge to groan. _I’m never going to live that down._

Shouta and Izuku wait until the patrolmen can’t see them before scaling down the nearest scaffold and ducking into the undergrowth. “Ready?” he asked the kid.

Izuku braced his rattler and lifted, aiming at a group of men across the cavern. “Ready,” he confirms.

Shouta draws his bow back and uses his Focus to target a man holding a death-spitter gun. “Go.” He releases the arrow, and the rattler bursts to life beside him. 

The cultists burst into action, shouting a call to arms. Some close ranks, while others rush for the undergrowth where the rain of fire emerged. Shouta shoots at the runners, and Izuku pulls away to get a better target of the men in the back. Shouta slings his bow around his back and draws his spear, launching forward to take on those who made the mistake of getting too close to him. He gets caught up in the battle, fighting with his spear against javelins popular with Carja guardsmen. The background music of the rattler transforms to the pop and boom of bombs being slung into foes.

At one point, Shouta hears Izuku cry out. He turns to find the kid, and it leaves just enough of an opening for one of the Eclipse to get a lucky blow across his face with a knife. Shouta turns back to the fight with a snarl and breaks the man’s jaw with the blunt end of his spear. He catches three arrows on his armor, and a fourth grazes his thigh. Shouta slams his spear into a tree and slings his bow back out, taking out the two snipers. He immediately turns to whip someone across the face with the hard point of his bow, before replacing his ranged weapon to his back and yanking his spear out and rushing at the man wielding two swords trying to sneak up on the kid.

Eventually, the cultists stop coming. Shouta pulls his spear free of his latest kill and listens intently while wiping the blade against a waxy leaf. There’s no echo of footsteps through tunnels, meaning none of the Eclipse had been smart enough to run for the exit and get help from their friends outside.

Then he turns and trudges through the underground forest, calling out for his little Outcast. “Izuku!”

“Over here!” comes the call.

Shouta turns and plows through the undergrowth to one of the Tallneck carcasses, the one still attached to a hook from the ceiling of the room. Izuku is leaning against one of the Tallneck’s legs, absolutely dwarfed by the metal foot. His right sleeve is pushed up to his elbow, and he’s prodding at three wounds in his forearm. Shouta moves faster and reaches out to take the kids wrist.

He turns the arm into the moonlight and examines the wounds. They look almost like claw marks. “There was a man with Scrapper claws over his glove.” That would explain the marks. They didn’t look too deep, but they would need stitches.

“Kid, you wouldn’t happen to have any pain relieving medicine on you, do you?” Shouta wonders, pulling out embermalt he bought off of some merchants a few months ago. It was vile to the taste--nothing like berrylager--but could be used to wash infection out of wounds.

“No? Why?” Izuku snatches his arm back, eyeing Shouta warily.

“You need stitches, kid. It’s going to hurt.” Shouta offers his hand again. “I can do the stitches quickly, if you can stay still.”

Izuku grimaces. He returns his wrist to Shouta’s hand. “Should I bite down on something?”

Shouta pulls the cork out of the bottle with his teeth. “While I clean this out, yes. I don’t want you breaking your teeth or biting your tongue.”

Izuku lets out a shaky breath before twisting the hood of his cape forward and biting into the synthetic skin. Shouta apologizes before dousing the wound in embermalt. Izuku’s scream is muffled, but it still echoes around the cave. Shouta puts the bottle down and tilts Izuku’s arm to drain it while the boy heaves in breaths through the Stalker Hide. Shouta holds the wound clear of everything and reaches out to pull the hood from Izuku’s mouth. He presses their foreheads together, urging Izuku to breathe. “Deep breaths, kid. In for four, out for four. With me--in, two, three, four; out, two, three, four.” Izuku’s ragged breathing calms to a normal rhythm. “Are you ready for me to continue, Problem Child?”

Izuku nods shakily, and Shouta instructs him to hold his arm out and to not let it touch anything. The kid watches as he cleans his hands and then his needle and thread with the embermalt. Shouta takes the arm up again and begins to stitch together the cuts. Izuku whimpers with every prick.

“Tell me about the claws,” Shouta says when he’s half-way through the first mark. “How did you know they were Scrapper claws?”

“I-I’ve researched all s-sorts of machines. Out of the known predator-like m-machines, only Ravagers, Sawteeth, and s-Scrappers have claws that shape and size. Glinthawks are curved like talons, so they can better grip and c-carry machines. Stalker’s c-claws are long and built for gripping trees while they wait to am-ambush their prey. Ravagers and Sawteeth are built for hunting prey and humans. If he had been wearing claws from them it would have torn my arm down to the bone. Scrappers are built to grip machines and hold them still so they can tear them to scrap metal for transport. Their claws aren’t built for cutting, so they usually only leave shallow marks.”

“That’s pretty impressive, kid.” Shouta finishes up the last stitch. “And we’re done. Let me wrap it up, and then we can keep going.”

“What about you?” Izuku asks as Shouta begins to wrap cloth bandages around his arm. Shouta hums in inquiry. “Your face.”

Shouta pins the bandages with a metal clip before bringing his hand up to his face to probe at his cheek. He winces, feeling around the wound. That would need stitches as well. “Can you suture, kid?”

“Not well,” Izuku mutters.

“It doesn’t need to be good.” Shouta grabs the embermalt again. “Let me see your hands.” Izuku holds them out. “You’re steady. That’s good--I don’t have to worry about you stabbing my eye.” Izuku pales. “Don’t sweat it--you’ll do great.”

Shouta, for his credit, did not scream when he cleaned his cheek out with embermalt. Izuku was the one who burst into tears, instead, and kept up his tearful whimpering as he stitched the cut shut. “Please don’t make me do that again,” Izuku whines when he finishes. Shouta chuckles, ruffles the kids hair, and then puts the medical supplies away.

“Did you want to take a quick break?” Shout asks his little Outcast. After a moment of hesitance, Izuku nods. “Okay, but only for a few minutes--we don’t know if the men inside were supposed to meet with the men outside.” Shouta sits down, his back to the Tallneck foot. Izuku slides down beside him, leaning against Shouta’s shoulder. He’s trembling, Shouta notices, and wraps his arm around the kid’s shoulders.

He lets them rest for a few minutes longer than he originally intended

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was having internet issues while posting this, so if you see anything that doesn't look right, please let me know!


	5. Sometimes, Running is the Best Solution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku finally gets his hands on Shouta's Override Module, and is given the task of using it on the core. Everything comes to a head as the Eclipse and the Machines arrive to defend their Cauldron.

Izuku has to be urged onward several times as they climb the scaffolds around the Tallneck carcass. He’s never been able to get this close to a Tallneck. He’s visited the one that patrols the Spearshafts, but it's much too dangerous to approach. Izuku could easily be trampled, and he doesn’t think Tallnecks are very aware of what goes on around them. The one in the Spearshafts just circles the massive stone stacks without a care in the world, oblivious to the tiny scavenger eager to study it. So of course he was curious.

“Keep moving, Problem Child,” Shouta sighs, grabbing Izuku by his hood to pull him away from the large, flat antennas on the Tallneck’s spine.

“But look! These look a little like the alarm antennas on the heads of Longlegs. Are they for communicating information?” Izuku asks as he’s dragged up a ramp that ends under the Tallneck’s massive, flat head.

“If you stop dragging your feet, I’ll tell you everything I know about Tallnecks. Hell, I’ll even take you up onto the head of one and let you ride around for a bit.”

Izuku turns to Shouta with sparkling eyes. “Really?”

“Really. Now let's go.” Promise secured, Izuku follows Shouta into the metal cave. It had been quite a trip to see stone turn to metal. It was amazing! The biggest metalworking projects he’s ever seen are the massive Oseram elevators in the Sundom capitol. Meridian boasted the greatest technology out of the known tribes, but even the Old World centuries later beat them out.

Most of the halls are triangular, with thick blue and black wires interspaced with smooth metal. There is a massive chamber that has a pit in the center of the room. Izuku isn’t allowed to look at that either, and was kept between the walls and Shouta to prevent him from examining it closer.

After a few minutes, they arrive at the entrance to a large cavern, almost as big as the one with the forest. It’s better lit, with bright white lines built into the walls. Torches without fire, like the glow from the machines. _Incredible…_ There’s three lifted platforms around the room, and a shorter control tower in the center. It is glowing with sick red wires. Wooden scaffolds surround the room, and cultists are examining the core or patrolling around the room. There are crates littering the room, and Izuku notices a few barrels of green Blaze in the back corner of the cavern.

Shouta pulls him underneath a scaffold, hidden behind a draped sail cloth. They duck down and peer out at the Eclipse. Izuku lets his eyes flick to what he can see. Three unarmed men are examining the short control tower, poking and prodding with a wide variety of tools. Two men with fire-spitters stand guard by them. Most of the two dozen men around the room are melee fighters, but Izuku can see two with bows slung across their back. And then there’s the heavy set man holding a death-spitter. Izuku narrows in on his legs, where the left has been injured recently, or permanently if the limp has anything to say about it. His gaze keeps returning to the death-spitter, though, and the cogs in his brain begin to turn.

A hand against his shoulder brought his attention back to Shouta. “You were muttering. Do you have a plan?”

“Do you know how to use a death-spitter?” Izuku asks.

Shouta grins wolfishly. “Tried an Oseram prototype once. Same basic concept. What did you have in mind?”

Izuku looks back out at the Shadow Carja. “If you could get your hands on the death-spitter, you could take out the rest of the men.”

Shouta’s brow furrows, and he peers out at the cavern. After a moment of consideration, he pulls his spear out. Izuku watches in surprise as he unlatches the Override Module from the spear. “Take this,” he says. “And use your Stalker Hide.” Izuku takes the Override Module reverently.

It’s smooth, and warm against his skin. He tips it back and forth, testing its weight. It wasn’t as cylindrical as he thought, but a polyhedral with so many sides it appeared like a circle. There were pockmarks along every third side, clustered against the head. He looks up at Shouta curiously.

Shouta adjusts the sailcloth and points to the short, red tower. “That is a Cauldron Core. Overriding that shuts the place down. On it, there will be a circular panel, with three small lights inside. When you find it, press the top of the Override Module to it. Remove it when the core turns blue. Do you understand?”

“Circle panel,” Izuku repeats. “Press the Module to it until it turns blue.”

“Good.” Shouta crouches down and uses his Focus to target the death-spitter. “Wait until I have the death-spitter before you head for the Core.”

“Don’t shoot me.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

Shouta begins to slip around boxes, and Izuku pulls his cloak over to cover everything. He waits, and then the _rat-tat-tat_ of the death-spitter echoes through the cave. Izuku slams the power button on his chest and launches out from his hiding spot. He runs straight to the core, tripping one of the soldiers as he passes and biting his lip to prevent himself from giggling as the man looks around in shock.

Izuku hops over a short metal ledge and weaves around a table of instruments. He circles the core as brilliant orange light from the fire-spitters produced additional light in the room. He finds the control center, with three glowing circles connected by two lines to form a triangle without a bottom. He pulls the Override Module out and presses it to the circle.

He flinches when the Override Module and the control center turn blue. He has to grip the Module with both of his hands as it begins to buzz and shake. It makes his injury throb with pain. After a few more moments, the entire core lights up blue. Izuku grins and turns to find Shouta using his spear to cut down two of the cultists with his spear.

“ _Intruders!_ ” Izuku jumps and turns back to the entrance. He cusses vibrantly upon seeing that the scaffolds against the wall where they had hidden led up to a second entrance, one that is spitting out Shadow Carja fighters.

The Cauldron itself roars back. Izuku turns back to Shouta to see him bodily swing his spear into one of two Ravagers, while a whole herd of Watchers emerge from a newly opened door in the back of the room. The second wolf-like Ravager lunges for the Eclipse, it’s back-mounted death-spitter _rat-tat-tat_ -ing as it shoots at the cultists.

“Kid!” Shouta barks, and Izuku sees him racing for the core. He slaps his Stalker Hide off and allows himself to be swept into running for the newly found entrance as the machines and cultists keep each other busy. “We need to get out right now.”

“No kidding,” Izuku barks back, breaking off to begin climbing up the sides of the scaffold. The wooden structure shakes as Shouta begins to climb on a different beam. Izuku reaches the top and reaches up with his right hand. He attempts to pull himself up, but the stitches pull in protest, and Izuku bites his cheek to hide a cry of pain. He kicks off of the support brace to throw the whole arm onto the walkway, and then braces his arm on the ledge to hoist himself up. He only has a moment to brace himself when he sees a boot race for his face. It’s slowed by his forearm, but lands a solid blow against his cheek and brow, sending Izuku careening onto one hand. His stitches have definitely broken, and his eye will be black by morning, but right now adrenaline blocks out the pain. He tries to dig his nails into the wood, but the cultist peers down at him with a sneer and slams his boot into Izuku’s fingers.

He shouts as he falls, only to be caught by Shouta. The older man grunts as he takes Izuku’s full weight, and then twists to swing Izuku back up, sending him feet first into the soldier. Izuku springs to his feet and unhooks his knife to keep the cultist down. He then turns to help Shouta up and onto the scaffold. Shouta proceeds to throw the next two cultists off of the cliff and frees up the tunnel as an escape route.

They race down the stone tunnel, entering an open cavern with some dead cultists. Izuku slows to check out the wounds on their heads and chest, but Shouta’s hand reaches out and grabs his shoulder, urging him forward. Izuku turns back to facing forward, brows furrowed. He knows those marks. What was the cause of such clean injuries?

They enter a second chamber, with a wide crevasse leading to the underground forest. The moon had shifted, leaving the forest darker than before. The Tallnecks are thrown into dark relief, looming statues in the dark. Fog has settled across the ground, drifting heavy and obscuring sight. But Izuku finally realizes where he remembers those marks from. Shouta lets go of Izuku’s shoulder and makes his way to the ledge. “Someone knocked the ladders down,” he mutters as Izuku stares into the fog, his breathing picking up. “It’s not a far drop; come on.”

Izuku lunges for his friend and drags him back from the ledge, putting himself in front of Shouta so that hopefully the machines in the valley would see him and his Ghost instead of Shouta. “There’s Stalkers down there.”

Shouta goes still and silent. Izuku continues to scan the forest, before pointing one out. “There.” He feels Shouta shift to catch sight of it, and together they watch as the fog parts around something that can’t be seen.

“How did you see it?” Shouta wonders, pulling them against the cave wall so they could watch with some shelter.

“I recognized the dart patterns on the men back there. A Stalker can fire a quill with enough force and accuracy that it can kill you with one shot. And there.” He points at a faint red glow within the fog. “It’s an alarm. If you get too close it sends a flare up into the air and sends an alert to the Stalkers.”

Shouta frowns, toggling his Focus. “I can’t even see them with this.”

“They’re probably the most dangerous machines after Rockbreakers and Thunderjaws.”

“Then how did you manage to craft this?” Shouta wonders, tugging at Izuku’s cloak.

“Luck, mostly.” Izuku peers out into the foggy jungle. Then he pulls out one of the flaps of his cloak to look at it. He grabs the bottom and holds it out like a wing, judging the size, and then scanning Shouta. “I have an idea.”

O0O0O

Shouta feels strangled, wearing Izuku’s Stalker Hide cloak. It’s small on him, short along his body and tight against his neck. The battery pack is warming uncomfortably, and Shouta wonders if Izuku’s shirt is insulated or something. Izuku is pressed against his side, his Ghost helmet’s third eye glowing with soft blue light. They make an odd sight, with Shouta’s upper body and Izuku’s legs completely hidden from sight.

Izuku will be fine, as long as he keeps his helmet on. Hell, he could probably go up and pet the beasts, if he wanted to. Shouta has to crouch whenever they see the mist part strangely, to hide his legs under the cloak, and it sets all his nerves on edge whenever he hears the whir of mechanics and can’t find the source. He’s not used to being prey. He doesn’t like it.

Izuku can barely see, but Shouta’s Focus gives him better vision than most at night, outlining some of the corpses near the exit in orange. He’s been taking a winding path so he can stick to heavy undergrowth. They’re rounding a large rock formation when a sharp whine pierces the air and a red flare shoots sparks in the dark cavern.

“Shit,” Shouta barks, and pulls Izuku into a run. There’s a sharp _pop_ and Shouta staggers forward from a blow to his back. The battery pack sparks and rattles, and Izuku’s eyes go wide. He lunges, tearing the clasps off and yanking the cloak and battery pack off of Shouta with enough force for the man to stagger again. Izuku swings with all his might and slings the battery pack into the Stalker. The machine struggles under the cloak, shouting angrily.

Then the cloak blows up.

Shouta rears back as the battery back explodes, the electricity stunning the Stalker. It goes down hard, wildly swinging it's head and pawing at the earth with a single foot.

Shouta stares down in horror at the kid. “You’ve been wearing that on your back?” he demands incredulously.

Izuku grabs his arm to pull him along as a second Stalker howls further back in the cavern. “Now is not the time.”

Shouta picks up the pace and they race up a wooden ramp and burst into the tunnel system. They run through the stone halls, running into a single Eclipse member that Shouta dispatches with a single swing of his spear.

They enter one of the smaller caverns, with wooden ramps curled into tight circles to connect their level to the ledge several meters overhead. A familiar scene appears, with Shadow Carja fighters battling with a pack of Scrappers. Izuku stumbles to a stop, surprised, and Shouta skids to a stop, turning to grab him and urge him to continue running. “Just ignore them! Keep running!”

The scaffolds are shaking with the force of running feet and fighting men and machines. Shouta uses his spear to redirect attacks away from them, and Izuku uses his Ghost to ward off direct attacks from machines. They make their way to the ledge unhindered and continue to run through the halls.

Bursting outside into the camp reveals even more chaos. There’s another Ravager attacking the canteen, two Glinthawks raining ice down from the sky, and a massive Fire Bellowback torching the tents. The camp is alight, giving off enough light that the torches lit around the camp are made absolutely useless.

Shouta isn’t sure how to describe a Bellowback. He used to pick ticks off of his mother’s hunting dogs, and those tiny insects are the closest comparison. These ticks had heads the size of most adults. It balances on two feet, the head and “chest” area counterbalanced by a massive storage tank filled with blaze. They drain Blaze into their gullet, a series of four sacs under its chin, and use their needle-like mouth to ignite the blaze and spit fire.

Shouta does not want to fight a Bellowback. He is not in the _mood_ to fight a Bellowback. He has an injured Problem Child who he doesn’t want anywhere _near_ a Bellowback. Time to find an escape route.

His eyes are drawn to the walls, where the patrolmen had been focused. “This way,” he urges Izuku. The stone is jagged, just enough for them to get hand holds and avoid the camp all together. Shouta has to help Izuku over, and winces when he notices the swelling along the kid’s cheek and eye. They pick their way down the cliff, jumping off when they get close enough to the ground. Izuku has to lean against the wall, panting from exertion. His legs are shaking, and Shouta realizes that he must not be used to such rigorous activity in such a short time period.

The Bellowback roars, and a plume of fire arches up over the walls of the camp.

Shouta winces, but he can’t let Izuku rest here. “Come on, kid. We’re not out of danger yet.”

Izuku looks up at Shouta, worn out, begging for a few more minutes. Shouta feels his face crumple, but he can’t fall for the puma-cub-eyes. He slings Izuku’s arm over his shoulders and pulls him from the wall. Izuku whines, but stumbles with Shouta as they duck into the forest. Shouta keeps them walking until they pass that first warning on the way back to Sunstone Rock, the spear-mounted skull.

Shouta pulls Izuku into the undergrowth, uses his Focus to determine how safe they were from men and machine, before finally lowering the kid to the ground. Izuku is panting, and sprawls across the soft earth. After a moment, he winces and brings his injured arm up to rest against his stomach. Shouta sees the blood soaking through the bandages and frowns in concern.

“How’s your arm?” He asks, settling down next to the kid.

“Hurts,” Izuku mutters. “And ‘m tired.”

Shouta chuckles, and reaches out to ruffle his little Outcast’s hair. “You can rest for a bit longer, kid. I’ll keep watch, alright?”

Izuku hums sleepily and nods, curling onto his side and scooting backwards until his back presses against Shouta’s legs. Shouta pats his shoulder, and returns to searching the undergrowth for rampant machines or any Shadow Carja survivors.

While the Izuku rests, Shouta takes the Override Module back and ties it back to his spear. He uses his Focus to study the new modifications. Unfortunately, he still couldn’t Override a Stormbird. His new Overrides consisted of Glinthawks, Stalkers, Bellowbacks, and Behemoths. Shouta sighs. That would have been good to know before he strapped a bomb to his back. Oh, well. Hindsight, and all that.

He lets the kid sleep until the sun begins to rise over the horizon. Izuku complains when Shouta wakes him up, but once he’s gotten the kid on his feet he falls into a weary silence. Shouta keeps an eye on him as they make their way to Sunstone Rock, but other than the gentle cradle he holds his injured arm with, the kid seems unscathed. Just tired. Shouta won’t deny the relief he feels that those claw marks were the worst of Izuku’s injuries. Shouta’s seen more experienced warriors get horribly injured with better odds than two-versus-a-couple-dozen.

Sunstone Rock appeared as a sanctuary to the tired wanderers. Shouta and Izuku first go to the tavern, which has a few more people than last time, but one of the Wardens, Sosaki Shino, catches sight of the two of them and bullies them into the medical ward.

Izuku’s stitches are redone (with the proper anaesthetic this time). His friend Kirishima Eijirou is off the clock this time, and helps the Sunstone Rock doctor, Shiretoko Tomoko, find the correct salves to spread along the injury. Kirishima takes over bandaging the wounds while Shiretoko turns to check Shouta’s own injuries. He got off lucky, with a few massive bruises and shallow scratches. His cheek is the biggest problem in the doctor’s eyes.

Shouta winces as Shiretoko prods his cheek, checking out the sutures. She clicks her tongue. “These stitches are atrocious, but they get the job done. It’ll scar, but as long as you keep it clean you should heal up just fine.”

“Thanks,” he mutters. He throws his shirt back on, the cloth sticking to the various lotions she spread against his bruises.

Shiretoko nods and hands him a small jar of salve. “Wash your face before putting this on. Once in the morning and once in the evening. It should reduce permanent tissue damage. Use the jar up.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Shouta stands from the chair and tucks the jar into his pack. He pauses before asking, “Is it easy to get to Meridian from here?” That had been his original purpose of entering the Sundom. The Winter Solstice Ceremony had detoured him south to the jungles of The Jewel. The diversion is well worth it, but Shouta still has a mission to complete.

“Mm… do you have a traveler’s pass?”

Shouta pauses. “Excuse me?”

Izuku pipes up from the bed where Kirishima is rewrapping his arm. “It’s a sigil, pinned to the chest. Non-Carja tribes that are allied with the throne are given some that allows them into the upper city through the elevators. Without one, you can only go through the Meridian Gate. It’s a massive bridge, the Vista Pass, that is built for the purpose of destroying it should an army try to attack the city.”

“Hm.” Shouta thanks the doctor, and waits for Izuku to finish chatting with his friend. As they leave, Izuku gets a hug from Sosaki and her nephew.

The sun is warm against his skin as they step out of Sunstone Rock. Shouta makes sure he has all of his belongings, before turning to Izuku. The kid jumps at the sudden attention, caught off guard.

“I wanted to ask you something,” Shouta begins, pausing to make sure he has Izuku’s full attention. “And feel free to say no. I don’t want to pressure you into doing something you don’t want to.” Izuku was fidgeting nervously, and Shouta grimaced, realizing this wasn’t coming out as he intended. “Do you know the way to the Meridian Gate?” Izuku goes stock still, and Shouta rushes to correct himself. “It’s just, I enjoyed teaming up with you. You’re a good kid. And I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to tag along with me. It's fine if you don’t! I can drop you back off at your home, and--”

“You want to travel with me?” Izuku says, sounding shocked.

“I- well, yes, did I not just say that, Problem Child?” Shouta wonders.

“ _Yes!_ ” Shouta flinches at the volume, and Izuku grimaces in apology. “I mean, yes. I’d like to team up with you.”

Shouta smiles.

“As long as you don’t shoot me again.”

Shouta scowls.

“Nevermind,” he says flatly, walking ahead of the kid. “Who needs teamwork?” Izuku bursts into giggles and catches up. Shouta slows his pace so the kid can keep up. He reaches out and scrubs the kid’s hair fondly.

There’s a whir of machinery, and Shouta turns to check it out. There’s a trio of Chargers standing in the undergrowth, heads lowered as they devoured grass. He nudges Izuku, grinning. “Hey, kid, did you want to take a shortcut?”

Izuku turns to him, and then to the Chargers. He lights up, like a happy puppy. “Can I use the Override Module?”

“No.”

Izuku whines, but ducks into the grass as Shouta stalks up to the Chargers. Built like Striders, they were identified by their characteristic curled horns, the lower half of which were built with whirring teeth that could cut through trees with ease. He approaches the closest from behind, and the Override process scares the other two off.

As soon as he steps away from the tamed machine, Izuku ducks under Shouta’s arm to press against his side. “That’s never going to get old. Can I get my own Override Module?”

“If we come across a Corrupter, I can see what I can do.” Shouta vaults up onto the Charger’s back, and it shuffles to adjust to his weight. He offers his hand and hefts Izuku onto the machine behind him. “Is there anything at your home you wanted to pick up?”

“Just a few mementos,” Izuku says, “if you don’t mind?”

“I have time for another detour.” Shouta kicks the Charger’s sides, urging it into a trot. Izuku yelps and wraps his arms around Shouta’s waist. He turns the Charger toward the east, where Izuku’s camp was located, and kicks his mount into a gallop.

Together, the Seeker and the Outcast vanish into the jungle, off in search of new adventures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This concludes Daybreak, but don't worry! I am planning a sequel, following the main quests of Horizon: Zero Dawn. There will be more characters, more of Izuku's inventions, and more Dadzawa content.

**Author's Note:**

> This idea hit me while I was watching AFV reruns and it hasn’t left my head since. Originally, I planned to have Izuku play the role of Aloy, but I really wanted to write some Dadzawa content and couldn’t bare writing him as Rost. So Seeker!Aizawa and NoraExile!Izuku.
> 
> Please don’t feel bad if I never respond to a comment! I swear, I’m reading them. I’m just awkward and don’t know how to reply if it's not a direct question.


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